Into the Fire
by AlotAAML
Summary: Ash, Misty, and all their friends go to high school in the worst time possible. War. These students must set aside their differences, band up, make their own weapons, and create a student army to protect their school from the imminent dangers that will invade them. Will they know what's ahead of them? Will the students even stand a chance? Pokeship, Contest, Ikari, and more ships.
1. Prologue

**[EDIT - August 2013]**

**[Hey guys, just a little note while you are reading the first 9 chapters. The first 9 chapters aren't well written, but it will help you know about the story A LOT such as the characters and background and such. That said, you can just skim over the first 9 chapters, as they are quick to read and aren't as good as the chapters after chapter 9. That said again, don't put too much focus on chapters 1-9, but actually focus on reading chapters 10 and on, where the action and character development begin] END OF EDIT**

* * *

**Hello everyone! First, I have to say a big THANK YOU to *HollyLu for the title card! Everyone please wish her luck on becoming an anime artist! She is an amazing artist and deserves to be recognized! I also have to thank all you readers who read my story and reviewed it!**

**I hope you enjoy reading this fanfic! I'm trying to improve as much as I can, so please, leave a review telling me what I did right and wrong! Your reviews are what keeps me fueled :D Anyways, here is Into the Fire! I hope this fanfic is a big improvement from my first one, because I created an outline for this fanfic already and focused more on the details. I should stop talking now, enjoy!**

Ash drowsily opened his eyes and felt unusually comfortable. _This is one comfortable bed,_ he thought as he rolled to the side to sleep again. He then opened his eyes. _Wait...bed?_ Ash immediately got up and looked around his environment. He was indeed in a bed, for once, and Pikachu was curled up in a ball in front of his feet. Ash turned right to see all his old trophies and medals and small picture frames. He then plopped back down on his bed again and sighed. _Oh yeah, I'm home now._ Ash started to remember his journeys in Unova with Cilan and Iris and coming back to Pallet Town to start a new one. It was just yesterday when he heard Cilan give him a speech on proper etiquette and Iris calling him a kid.

_Well, hope to see you again, kid! _Iris said with a triumphant smile.

Ash was going to argue back but was stopped when Iris rubbed his head.

_I'm just kidding, Ash! You've really proven to me that you're not a kid anymore, you're more like a...let's see...a junior now._

_That doesn't make it better! _Ash exclaimed.

Cilan and Iris laughed and Cilan extended his hand out to Ash.

_To a great journey!_

Ash smiled and accepted the hand shake. _To a great journey!_

Iris joined in too by putting her hands over both of theirs. _To an extremely great journey!_

_Pika! _Pikachu agreed.

Ash was interrupted by his flashback when Pikachu stood up from its spot and started to stretch and yawn.

"You up too, buddy?" Ash said, scratching behind Pikachu's ears.

"Chaaa..." It said in satisfaction.

The door opened softly and Delia came into his room with a small table with food on it.

"You're up already Ash?" She said with a warm smile, "It's so nice to have you back."

"Good morning, Mom!" Ash said excitedly. Sure he was happy to see his mom but he was _way_ more excited to see the food on the small table. He felt guilty for thinking about food over his mom but his stomach sure didn't.

"I've made you a hero's welcome breakfast, Ash!" Delia said as she put the bed and breakfast table on his lap. She also gave Pikachu a ketchup bottle.

"Pika!" It said as it immediately started the lick off the ketchup.

Ash eyed his breakfast with determined eyes. He started drooling from the selection. There was a T-bone steak, crispy rice, roast beef, a bowl of extremely ripe and colorful fruit, and a tall class of water.

"I-is this all for me?!" Ash asked, hoping for it to be true.

"Yep! You deserve it!" Delia answered, obviously hiding something.

"What for?" Ash asked, suspicious of his mom's behavior. _She better have not showed everyone my baby pictures while I was gone!_

"Well..." Delia rubbed the back of her neck and looked nervous, "I might have done something without your permission."

_Here it comes..._

"What did you do?"

"Well..um.." Delia cleared her throat, "I enrolled you to high school."

Ash choked on his food and accidentally spit it to Pikachu. "WHAT?!"

* * *

Misty woke up in anticipation. _Today is the day!_ She thought as she turned to see her calender. It was indeed the day, the day she would see Ash again after four whole years. Circled on the date, it said "Ash is back!" in neat, careful handwriting. Misty quickly jumped out of her bed, startling Azurill, who was situated on her sheets, and put her clothes on and went to the bathroom. She looked at herself in the mirror. _Should I keep my ponytail or should I... experiment a little? _Misty face palmed her face, _Gee... I'm becoming more and more like my sisters._ Misty took a deep breath in the looked straight at the mirror. She didn't need any makeup because of her natural features so all she did was undid her ponytail and changed clothes. She took a brush and straightened out her hair until it reached her shoulders. _I looks okay, I guess,_ Misty thought to herself in triumph. She then switched to some new clothes. She picked out a loose white sweatshirt that belonged to her sister and denim short shorts. She looked behind her and saw Azurill looking at her with childish glee.

"How do I look Azurill?" Misty asked.

"Azurill! Azurill!" It said, giddy and jumpy.

"Thanks," Misty smiled as she returned Azurill to her Pokeball for the long trip ahead. Misty then turned off the lights and dashed for the stairs. She almost tripped when Daisy called her name.

"Like, hey Misty!" Daisy called out.

"Hey Daisy" Misty replied, obviously in a hurry.

Daisy inspected Misty's new look.

"Wow, for once you like, did something with your hair and clothes. You look like, more feminine now, you know, like more 'sensational material.'"

Misty took some time to understand what Daisy said, "T-thanks, I guess."

"Is it for, like Ash?" Lily asked with an excited voice.

Misty blushed, "No! Not like that! I just...you know... wanted to switch styles."

The sensational sisters laughed. "Like, whatever you say!" Lily said in a teasing voice.

Misty didn't feel like she needed to extend the conversation so she headed for the door.

"Like, hey! Wait!" Daisy said.

Misty turned around with an annoyed expression.

"You, like, can't go to Pallet right now, you like, gotta take the boat to Dekoroa Islands right now."

"Wait, why?" Misty asked, surprised.

"Because we like, enrolled you to high school!"

"WHAT?!" Misty yelled, "But today I'm supposed to meet Ash! It's been four years!"

"Don't, like, worry Misty!" Violet said, "Your boyfriend is going to go to the same school as you! With, like, almost all the same classes!"

"For the last time, he is NOT my boyfriend!" Misty shouted. She turned then stomped away but turned back to her sisters with a smile.

"Thanks for letting me know," Misty said in a genuine smile.

"Like, that's what sisters are for, silly!" Daisy said, "Give us a hug before you leave!"

Misty ran back to her sisters and they embraced in a group hug.

_Thank you, Daisy, Violet, and Lily, for letting me know._

* * *

May was in the backyard training her Pokemon for the next contest.

"Beautifly, fly up in the air and use stun spore, then use wing attack to blow them around in swirls!" May commanded as she saw her Pokemon gracefully execute what was commanded.

"Great job, beautifly!" May said with a smile.

"Hey, May!" Norman, her father, called her from the sliding window door leading to the house.

"Yeah Dad?"

"Come back home, I have to tell you something," He said, leaving the door open and entering the house.

"Alright!" May said. She returned beautifly and walked through the sliding door.

May entered the living room and put slippers on. The top of her slippers were supposed to be closed but Munchlax bit them off. Still, May seemed to enjoy the makeshift open toed slippers better than the previous.

"So what is it that you wanted me for, Dad?" May asked, sitting down on a white leather couch, next to her father.

"Well, its time for you to go to high school."

"WHAT?!" This time, it wasn't May who shouted, but Max, who was in the back, "How come she gets to go to school and I don't?! I CLEARLY deserve the education more than her!"

"Dad, you should enroll Max instead, I have a career with contests already!" May stated, expecting to have agreeable terms.

Norman closed his eyes and sighed, "May, it is every father's dream to send their children to school, besides, Dekoroa High School is famous for their specialty in contests, as well as other subjects. Most of your friends are going, including Drew." Norman opened his eyes and saw that May wasn't in front of him anymore, but upstairs, already packing up.

"Kids..." He sighed with a smile.

"Sisters..." Max groaned.

**This chapter was supposed to be short because its just a prologue, hope you got a taste on what this story will be like in the beginning! It'll be funny and very cheerful at first but towards the middle, its not going to be as cheerful and bright, sadly, because of a certain organization trying to take over the school.**


	2. Awkward Reunion?

**Alright, so, I'm probably going to upload this consistently, so the way I'll upload new chapters is to upload A LOT at one time, wait a while until I get more ideas, then upload a lot again. It won't be as annoying as you might think it would be because with the amount of motivation I currently I have, I will be uploading every one or two weeks. And PLEASE! PLEASE! REVIEW! On my traffic graph I've noticed that A LOT of guests are reading this, even if you don't have an account, you will still be able to review, only that I can't reply back to you because you can't PM guests.**

The air was cool and refreshing and the scenery was of a vivid blue and white theme. There was an endless sparkling blue ocean reflecting the sun in the back and white clay buildings around the edges. It was like looking at a panoramic view of the Bora Bora island. Ash was at the Kanto Harbor, enjoying the view. _Man, I never knew that a harbor could be... this beautiful. I wonder if-_

"Hey, kid!" Ash turned back to see who called him. It was the magikarp salesman, "I haven't seen you in a long time, kid!"

"Oh hey, your the magikarp salesman from way back!" Ash responded with a smile.

"Yeah, way back," the man chuckled, "Where are you going now?"

Ash's expression suddenly turned dull, "High school."

"High school? You?" The salesman laughed, "Why would possibly the world's greatest trainer waste his time at high school?"

"Tell me about it."

"Hey, come closer," the salesman said, waving his hands to motion Ash to come closer.

Ash came in front of the stand and waited for what the salesman had to say.

"Since I've known you for so long, I'll give you a free pass to the first class seat in the boat heading to Dekoroa Island."

Ash's eyes widened, "Really? For me?"

The man laughed and rubbed his hand around Ash's hair, "Yeah, kid, have a blast!" He handed a ticket to Ash.

"T-thanks!" Ash exclaimed as he took the ticket with gratitude.

"No problem-o! Just say hi to your girlfriend for me!" The man said with a big chuckle.

Ash blushed and hurried away to the boat.

There was a big crowd around the docks but Ash managed to squeeze in. He was heading for the entrance to the boat until he bumped into a body.

"Hey watch it!" The voice called.

Ash turned to see Gary in front of him.

"Gary!" Ash said, "What brings you here?"

"The real question is, what brings _you _here?" Gary replied with a smirk.

"You really have to fix your ego," Ash said with a challenging smile.

"If you need to know, I'm heading to the prestigious Dekoroa High School with," Gary cleared his throat and took a ticket out of his pocket, "a _first class_ ticket." He nudged Ash in the elbow, "What about it, eh?" He bragged.

"Hey me too!" Ash said as he took out his ticket.

Gary's proud expression dulled and he face-faulted. He then cleared his throat again and regained his posture.

"Heh, well, _Ashy boy, _I guess I'll have to be your tutor." He said, trying not to feel embarrassed.

"STOP CALLING ME THAT!" Ash shouted, "Anyways, I don't need a tutor from you! I should be tutoring YOU instead you high ego'd selfish..."

Gary rolled his eyes, Wow_ this kid can talk a lot, I can't believe he is STILL ranting about me_, Gary suddenly caught a flash of orange hair in the corner of his eye, _better end his ranting._

"Hey Ash, did you know that your _girlfriend_ is coming to the same high school as us?"

"She is NOT my girlfriend!" Ash argued.

"Well, then, I guess she's available then!" Gary teased.

"No you can't have her!"

"Why?"

"Because she's my best friend and I don't want my best friend to be dating someone as unworthy as you!" Ash was literally gritting his teeth.

"Ash you are so dense," Gary saw the orange flash of hair coming closer, "Speaking of your girlfriend, here she comes right now."

"What?"

Ash turned back to see Misty coming. _No... this can't be Misty..._ Ash thought as he saw the once tomboy-ish redhead walking to his direction. Her silky, bright hair was down to her shoulders and she was wearing a bold red tank top and small jean shorts showing her defined legs.

"Mi...Misty?" Ash whispered to himself.

Misty finally stopped in front of him and greeted him with a smile, "Hey Ash!"

"H-hey Misty!" Ash said.

"Hey Misty! Ashy boy and I were just talking about you!" Gary teased.

Ash blushed, "N-no we weren't! He's lying!"

_This is going to be the best four years ever, _Gary thought.

_This is going to be the worst four years of my life, _Ash thought.

* * *

The boat finally arrived and the trio headed up the ramp to board the boat.

"Everyone please bring all bags with you! There will be compartments beneath your seats and over your heads for you to put any big luggage in!" An announcer called out.

As they were boarding the boat, Ash noticed Misty's luggage.

"Hey Misty, d-do you need some help with that?" Ash asked timidly.

"Um, no, I'm good," Misty replied.

_What's with him? Why is he so nervous?_

Gary noticed Ash's tenseness and smirked.

When they entered the cruiser, they were instantly shocked by the luxuriousness. There were rows of vinyl red seat booths with smooth beige walls topped with wooden crown molding on top. The spotless windows were framed with golden medal and the atmosphere was beautiful with orange vintage lanterns lighting up the room and classical music playing in the background. Ash and Misty stood there in awe while Gary was looking for seats.

"Wow" Ash said.

"It's beautiful" Misty responded.

"Eh, looks like they tried too hard with the design," Gary said with an uninterested face, "Hey, look!" He pointed at the seat booths, "I call the end of booth closest to the window!"

Before either could respond, Gary made a full dash for the booth and secured his seat.

"Looks like you and Misty are going to be sitting right next to each other!" Gary said with a smirk.

Ash and Misty looked at each other and back at the seats. They hesitantly gave up and sat down.

For the first portion of the boat ride, there was an awkward silence with neither of the two talking to each other. They were looking at opposite directions and doing small things to keep them busy.

"What's wrong with you two? Aren't you guys like best friends?" Gary asked, "Start a decent conversation."

Ash and Misty looked at each other and quickly shot their glances away.

Ash cleared his throat, "So, um Misty, howisyourgymdoing?" He felt his palms get sweaty.

Misty looked confused, "Say that again, couldn't hear what you said."

Ash cursed at himself for talking too quickly. "How is your gym doing?"

"Fine," Misty replied, "And your journey?"

"Fi-"

"BORING!" Gary blurted out, "I was expecting a more interesting conversation between you two, was it the four year gap that made everything so awkward?"

Ash sighed and shifted his eyes to the left, where Misty was. He immediately almost jumped when he saw Misty's body. Gary noticed Ash's peeking.

Gary stared at Ash with a mischievous grin, "Guess you're not as dense as I thought you were, Ashy boy."

Ash and Misty looked at him in confusion.

"Misty grew, didn't she, Ash?"

Ash instantly blushed. _Act innocent, act like your ten year old self again._ "W-what do you mean?"

"I mean, she grew, didn't she?" Gary made a curvy gesture with his hands.

"Um..." Misty said, blushing.

"I guess Ash was too mesmerized from looking at you that he couldn't find any words to say." Gary smirked, "That explains why he couldn't hold a decent conversation for five minutes.

"N-NO WAY!" Ash argued, "She's still too scrawny!"

"What did you say, Ash..." Misty glared at Ash with a death glare.

"Wha? No, nothing!" Ash said, instantly regretting what he said.

Misty punched Ash on the head, knocking him out of his seat.

Gary couldn't hold in his laughed and blurted out, almost screaming with laughter.

"Pikaa..." Pikachu said as it shrugged.

**Hope you liked this chapter! I tried to add a lot of detail to it and I tried to throw in some character development too. I love the Ash, Gary, and Misty trio, it just fits so well! I also hope you people who've seen Pokemon since season 1 remember the magikarp salesman! Who knows, he might play an important role in the story :o**

**Please review, even if you are a guest please review!**


	3. Hopeless Hints

**This chapter is kinda short because it's a transitional chapter of them going to the Dekoroa Islands. I still don't know if you guys like this story or not so PLEASE review T_T. I didn't get a review yet so I hope that by today I'll get at least one review. Remember, guests can review too! Anyways, enough with my begging, onward to the story!**

The lanterns dulled down into a very faint glow of orange and the classical music stopped playing. It has been over ten hours since the boat ride started and everyone in the cruise liner were sleeping. The passengers have been sleeping for around four hours now and it was time to wake up. A small sequence of chimes rang throughout the boat, alerting it's passengers that the boat made it to the Dekoroa Islands.

"Good morning passengers! We have successfully made it to the Dekoroa Islands! Please give the captain a big round of applause for making this journey into a successful, calm one." The announcement speaker said as everyone gave their share of applause, "Please double check that you have all your belongings and safely step out of the boat in a single file line, we hope that you have enjoyed this trip and we hope to see you again!"

Ash yawned loudly and drowsily looked around. He turned to his left and noticed Misty leaning onto his shoulder, still sleeping and froze. His face instantly turned red as his face wore an extremely goofy and clumsy look.

He saw Gary with a huge, cheeky grin holding his phone out, unable to hold it still as he tried to stifle his laughter.

Ash whispered with teeth gritting, "If you take that picture, I will murder you the second we get off this boat."

"Sure you can, Ash!" Gary said, dispersing short giggles.

Ash knew he couldn't fight Gary as Gary would have the advantage, "Please..." Ash whispered with begging eyes.

Gary couldn't hold in reacting to Ash's pathetic pleading and laughed out loud. Misty woke up.

After rubbing her eyes, she looked around her surroundings and noticed that she was leaning on Ash.

She looked at Ash, who had a ridiculously embarrassed expression then down at his shoulder then up at him again.

"AHHHHHHHHH!" Misty shouted, pushing herself off of Ash.

Gary snickered and shoved Misty to Ash.

"WHAA!" Ash shouted as he fell down with Misty.

They both fell off the booth, Misty grabbing onto Ash by instinct.

"You know what, I'll say it right here and now, this has to be the best four years of my life." Gary chuckled and started for the exit.

"C'mon lovebirds, we have a school to go to!" Gary said.

Ash and Misty sighed in unison.

"Misty?"

"Yeah?"

"You're still grabbing onto me."

* * *

May was heading for the Hoenn docking port on her bike, pedaling at lightning speed.

_The faster I get there the faster I can meet all my friends... and Drew,_ May thought with dreamy eyes. _What am I talking about?_ May said as she shook her head, _I don't like Drew, even though he is caring, challenging, charming, professional, strong, coordinated..._ May was going on and on about her thoughts.

She closed her eyes sighed, lowering her head, "Oh Drew."

"Yes?"

Surprised by the reply, May jumped. "AHHH!" May yelled as she fell off her bike, landing on the gravel path.

Drew approached her and let out a helping hand to get her up.

"WHAT WAS THAT FOR? YOU SCARED ME!" May shouted, her face hot red.

"Well, you were riding at an extremely slow pace right next to me, not even noticing me, then you called me name, all I did was answer." Drew said as he flicked his hair.

"You are so insensitive!" May shouted as she accepted his hand. "Ow!" She grunted while standing up.

"Looks like your leg's bruised." Drew said with surprised eyes, but looked away, obviously trying to hide the hint of care behind his eyes.

"Yeah, thanks to you," May said grumpily, rubbing her shin.

Drew sighed and faced his back to May and knelt with his arms extended to his back.

"What are you doing?" May asked in confusion.

"Giving you a piggy back ride."

May blushed.

"N-no I can walk! See?" May tried to stand but immediately fell back down, biting her lip to stifle a squeal of pain.

"Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. Just get on my back before I change my mind." Drew said, trying his best to keep his voice level.

May slowly went on top of Drew and he stood up.

"The way to the harbor is only a few more minutes, it won't take long." He said, heaving her up.

May was lost in thought while he was carrying her, _Did he do this because he... likes me? No it can't be, any friend would help their friend like this, but the way Drew looked worried for a split second, the way he immediately snapped his head back when I looked at him. He's so mysterious but...__  
_

"He's so sweet," May said, saying her thoughts out loud. She immediately regretted saying that.

Drew stopped and almost tripped on a pebble in front of him.

"W-what?" He said in surprise, looking at her with a small hint of hope.

"NOTHING!" May said, "I'm just delusional, that's all! Just, just keep going, we're almost there!"

"W-whatever you say..." Drew said, turning his head around to hide his blush.

The Hoenn docks were right in front of them.

_Those were two close calls, _May thought, _better not make it three._

**These are some pretty early hints of Pokeshipping and Contestshipping, hope you like them! And don't worry, I won't make the characters hook up right in the beginning, I'll make it slowly progress after some more character development. This means, yes, even more dense Ash :P**

**The action won't be happening soon, right now I'm trying to churn out as much character development as possible. Please review and I hope you have a nice day! Today is the last day of Spring Break for me :(**


	4. Friends and Enemies

**I hope you like my frequent updates! I'll update a lot when I have the time, I've already partially written out these chapters a few months ago so it takes a short time to write and upload them. I hope you like the story so far and THANK YOU 8TyeDye8 and Lucaeon for reviewing! The high school act JUST started but will end in a few more chapters. In those chapters, I'll try to write out as much character development as possible and have the action ready for you guys! Please review! You don't know how much it makes me feel good to read your reviews :)**

There it was, the gates to Dekoroa High School. The whole school was surrounded by a menacing ten foot wall with the only means of entrance being the two huge, metal gates in front of Ash, Gary, and Misty. There were students going in and out, looking very busy with themselves. A girl with long brown hair and hazel eyes went up to the trio and greeted them.

"Hello!" The girl said with a bow, "Welcome to Dekoroa High School! My name is Talia and I'm the designated school president, I will also be your tour guide, follow me." Talia then looked at Pikachu, who was perched on Ash's shoulder.

"Sorry, little guy, but you can't be outside your Pokeball past this school gate. You'll have to go to the Daycare with the other Pokemon." She then looked at Ash, "I', sorry, Pokemon are only allowed at the Quad."

Ash frowned, not because he was disappointed, but because he imagined how disappointed Pikachu would be. "Sorry Pikachu," Ash said, "Rules are... rules."

"Pika..." Pikachu groaned, slouching its shoulders.

Ash brought out his first Pokeball, the one with the thunder emblem on top of the Pokeball button, and pointed it at Pikachu. A red laser contacted Pikachu as it shrunk down into the size of an atom. He carefully latched the Pokeball back onto the belt, like he was holding a precious jewel.

As soon as she saw that Ash was ready, Talia motioned the trio to follow her while she was talking about the school's history and the classrooms. "Our school was founded by an old Dekoroan villager who thought that education was mandatory for the village, the school soon got bigger and bigger until it covered up the whole village!"

Ash, Gary, and Misty were listening in awe while they were absentmindedly following their tour guide around. Ash was too mesmerized staring at the classrooms and fields that he forgot to look forward. He bumped into a tall, muscular boy the same age as him with spiky blonde hair and blue eyes.

"Watch where the hell you're going," The tall person said as he angrily strode by. Ash felt the gusts of wind following the boy hitting him in the face.

"What's his problem?" Ash muttered.

Talia didn't notice their encounter and kept on walking. The trio ran to catch up with her. Soon, a small, fragile looking girl with wavy brown hair and timid brown eyes walked up to Ash. She had the most innocent looking and delicate eyes Ash had ever seen.

"H-hello," the girl said, obviously in a hurry.

"H-hey?" Ash responded, wondering what the girl was on about.

"I...I'm sorry for what my brother Cole did to you earlier, he may seem mean on the outside but on the inside he is as gentle as a stuffed bear," the girl said.

"Hey, Sara, hurry up and come on!" Cole said, very far away from the rest.

"I've got to go but please, please bear with my brother," she said as she softly ran to her brother.

"Um..okay," Ash said to Sara, who was already quite a distance away from him.

"Jeez, why does such a sweet little girl have to have a brother like that?" Misty asked as she sighed.

"Life's a bitch." Gary said solemnly.

They continued their trek across the school, listening to whatever Talia had to say to them.

"So Talia, who is this Cole anyways?" Ash asked.

"Cole, as you know, is the brother of Sara, the little girl who you guys talked to earlier. No one knows why but he is always angry for some odd unknown reason. Sara, the sweetest, most innocent little girl in this school, is trying her best to help him but no matter what she does, it doesn't change him. No one saw the kid smile or laugh, only the same expression of anger twenty-four seven."

_Sort of like Paul..._ Ash thought, _But Paul changed in the end..._

Suddenly, the bell rang, indicating that it was a resting period.

"Oh, it looks like its time for a rest," Talia said, looking at her watch, "You guys should go to the Quad, its where everyone meets and hangs out, its located in the center of the school."

"Alright, thanks Talia!" Ash said.

Talia waved at them as she walked towards the offices.

* * *

The Quad was definitely what Talia said it would be. It was bustling with action and students were laughing and talking, some chasing each other for a "stolen homework." There were benches and trees laid out, it looked like an overcrowded park. Pokemon were playing with each other and training for battles and contests. Ash noticed two particular people training their Pokemon.

"Hey its May and Drew!" Ash said as he ran to greet them. Misty and Gary followed.

"Hey May, hey Drew!" Ash called out with a smile. The two looked and Ash and smiled.

"My dad told me you guys were coming!" May said with a grin, "Misty, how are you doing as a gym leader?" Her dark browned eyes sparkling with excitement and anticipation.

Misty laughed, "Well... some days it could be for the better, some days for the worse. How are your contests going?"

"Its going well! Glaceon and I are having a blast winning!" May scratched Glaceon behind its right ear.

"I guess I gotta let Pikachu come out too!" Ash said, throwing his Pokeball in the air, "Pikachu, come on out!"

Pikachu appeared out of its Pokeball and landed on the ground with a smile.

"Pika!" It said, shaking its body, happy to be out again.

Misty reached for Azurill's Pokeball, "You can play with the others too, Azurill!" Azurill also appeared out of her Pokeball and looked around, not knowing where it was. Pikachu quickly ran towards Azurill and greeted her, both of the Pokemon happy to see each other again. They both went to where all the other Pokemon were playing.

"So, Ash, how is your journey going?" Drew asked with a flick of his hair.

"Its awesome! I just got all eight badges for the Unova region!" Ash said with determination.

"But unfortunately, Ashy boy lost at the Junior Cup," Gary said as he patted Ash in the head teasingly.

"Um, who are you?" Drew asked.

"Oh, I'm Gary Oak, Professor Oak's son. I've been rivals with this kid," Gary pointed at Ash, "for quite a long time."

"Oh cool, so do you train Pokemon too?" May asked.

"I used to, but right now I'm a researcher." Gary answered.

Drew looked at Misty, then suddenly blushed. Thankfully for him, no one noticed. He then cleared his throat and pulled out a rose.

"And who might you be?" Drew asked as he gently handed the rose to Misty.

Misty blushed and accepted the rose awkwardly, "Uh, hi, I'm Misty, Ash's friend."

Normally, Drew would have been able to start a good conversation, but with his little crush on Misty, he just stood silently.

Ash stared on and grew hostile to Drew. "Hey Drew, no need to give off roses to everyone you see!" Ash said as he put himself in front of Misty. He didn't notice that he raised his voice.

"Oh... um, right. Sorry Ash, sorry Misty..." Drew said.

"Ash, what was that about!" Misty harshly whispered to Ash.

He noticed that he had done wrong and apologized to Drew.

"No problem, jealousy gets the best of us sometimes," Drew said cunningly.

"Why you-" Ash got cut off as May called out for Dawn.

"Hey! I see Dawn!" She said as she was waving her arms around, signalling for Dawn.

"Who's Dawn?" Misty asked.

"Oh, she was our travelling partner back in Sinnoh." Ash answered.

Misty couldn't help but wonder how many girls Ash traveled with. She couldn't help but feel disposable.

Dawn hurriedly ran for the group but tripped on a rock.

"Ow!" Dawn cried out, spread-eagle'd on the ground.

"Watch your step, troublesome," Paul said as he strode out past her and to the rest.

"I could have used a help up!" Dawn pouted as she stood up.

"Hey Paul!" Ash said as he held out his hand for a handshake.

Surprisingly, Paul shook Ash's hand. "Hey, Ash."

"Did you have your rematch with Brandon yet?"

"Actually, I have. I'm surprised you remembered."

Ash gave out a cheeky grin, "So, did you win?"

Paul closed his eyes and smiled at himself. "Of course."

* * *

While everyone was socializing, Gary was standing outside of their circle, obviously knowing no one there. He lazily looked around the park with his hands jammed into his pockets with his eyes have closed. His eyes then spotted something. Suddenly, Gary's eyes widened and his mouth opened, his cheeks furiously blushing red. Ash noticed this and looked to the direction where Gary was staring at. He knew right away who Gary was staring at. It was Leaf. Ash had an evil smile. He casually walked up to Gary.

"Hey, Gary." Ash said with teasing eyes.

"What?" Gary asked, "What are you staring at?"

"Nothing," Ash said, putting his hands in his pockets, "Say, did you notice that Leaf is here?"

Gary had a wild take as he fell backwards.

"Gary?"

"What, kid?" He replied, brushing dust off his clothes.

"I said, Leaf is here."

"I know," Gary whispered.

"What?" Ash asked as his cupped his ears, "I didn't hear you?"

"I said, I _KNOW"_ Gary harshly whispered, gritting his teeth.

"You're going to have to talk louder, Gary!" Ash said.

"I SAID I KNOW THAT LEAF IS HERE!" Gary shouted at the top of his lungs. "ARE YOU DEAF OF SOME-"

"Hey Gary!" Leaf said from behind.

Gary quickly shrank and turned around, putting his hand on the back of his neck, nervously.

"H-hey Leaf!"

Ash tapped Gary's shoulder.

"I'm going to get my rightfully deserved revenge, Gary." Ash whispered.

* * *

Misty, May, Dawn, and Leaf were all dorm mates and were heading for the dorm. When they opened the door, Misty noticed that Talia, Sara, and another girl was there, sitting in their beds.

"Hey Talia! Hey Sara!" Misty said with a warm smile.

"Hey Misty!" Talia called out.

"H-hey!" Sara said, barely audible.

The girls all got to know each other, although Sara was very shy. The third girl was known to be Jennifer. She had long, light brown hair tied up in a ponytail and had piercing blue eyes. She was probably the tallest of the girls, a tad taller than Talia.

* * *

The girls' encounters with each other was nothing compared to the boys. Ash, Paul, Gary, and Drew were all in the same dorm too and they saw three other boys there.

"Hey!" A kid with brownish-blonde, messy hair said as he ran to the four. He had tanned skinned and was definitely the shortest one. "The name's Chester!"

"Hey Chester!" Ash said, enthusiastic to make a new friend, "I'm Ash and this is Gary, Paul, and Drew!"

"Cool! The kid with the pale skin and blue beanie is Marlowe." Chester said with a smile.

Marlowe stared at them and cracked a very small smiled. He definitely had a firmer complexion than Chester and looked more serious and strangely, stressed.

"The guy in the back in Cole." Chester said, he voice getting a bit less cheerful at that sentence.

The tallest boy in the room, Cole, noticed Ash and glanced at him. He scoffed and cursed under his breath.

Before Ash could react, Gary blurted out, clenching his fists "Hey, what's your problem? I mean, we don't even know you and you are disrespecting us! Who do you think you are?"

"Piss off," Cole spit out as he stood up, looking menacing.

"You're one unfriendly piece of shit!" Gary shouted. Then he made a run for Cole.

Cole instantly reacted and snapped his arm forward. In a blur, he had Gary in a choke hold.

Everyone stepped back and Ash gasped.

"Whoa, Cole, big bro, calm down!" Chester said raising his hands up to his chest, "You don't have to do this!"

Ash and Drew held out a disgusted look but Paul looked indifferent.

"Hey, Chester, is it? Do you know where you guys keep the cups? I'm thirsty." Paul asked, looking bored.

Ash glared at Paul, "Paul! Do you know the situation we're in?!"

Gary was gasping for breath while he was pathetically trying to get out of Cole's grasp.

"Fine, then. I'll find it myself." Paul shrugged, and casually strolled down the room and headed for the drawer on top of the sink. He got out a glass cup and filled it with water. Paul then headed back to the rest with one hand in his pocket, sipping his water. He slowly walked behind Cole and stood there. He finished his glass of water and stared at it. Immediately, he looked up and struck Cole at the back of the head with the cup. The glass exploded into a million pieces and Cole stepped forward, letting go of Gary. Gary collapsed, gasping for breath. Cole sharply turned back and glared at Paul. He dove at Paul with full speed and within in a second, they were both on the ground. Cole was on top of Paul and the blood from the back of head dripped down to Paul's cheek.

"You bastard!" Cole shouted as he punched Paul hard across the face.

Paul grunted but didn't lose his focus. He put his leg next to Cole's and slid it across his foot. Cole lose balance and Paul quickly shifted all his weight to the side, rolling on top of Cole. Now Paul was on top of Cole. Paul's lip was bleeding from the punch and spit at Cole. Paul then reached for a piece of glass from the floor.

"That's ENOUGH!" Marlowe shouted sternly.

Surprised by the outburst, Paul lost focus and Cole push him away. They both stood up, looking ready to kill each other. Marlowe and Chester grabbed onto both sides of Cole's arms while Ash and Drew grabbed onto Paul the same way. The two of them stared at each for what seemed like hours. Cole then sighed and threw both Marlowe and Chester away. He grabbed onto his wound on the back of his head and walked out the room, cursing. He bumped into another boy who was about the enter the room and grunted off. The boy entered the room with a confused face. The room had glass shards everywhere on the ground and had a boy grabbing onto his neck, looking almost dead.

"What... what did I walk into?" The boy asked. He looked a lot like Cilan, had the same good posture as Cilan, and had a clean cut hair style like Cilan, just that it was black as apposed to green.

"Who are you?" Ash and Chester asked at the same time.

"Oh, I'm Ben, I'm supposed to be your guys's dorm mate."

"Nice to meet you Ben!" Chester says, being to first to shake his hand, "Right now no one really wants to talk because of something that just happened."

"Oh, its alright, I hope I didn't walk in on something."

"Nah, its nothing at all!" Chester said, smiling like nothing happened.

There was an awkward silence.

"So... what are your guys's classes?" Ash says, trying to break the ice.

"Actually, we all have the same classes," Ben responds.

Ash, Drew, Paul, and Gary looked confused.

Ben explained to everyone that the school schedules the same classes for all the students in the school. Only the extra curricular classes being different.

"Agh," Gary said, rubbing his neck, "I'm going to go call it a day, wake me up when school starts tomorrow." He immediately plopped down on an empty bed.

Ash sighed and closed his eyes. "Yeah, me too. Let's call it a day." He fell down on a bed next in front of Gary's. "See ya guys in class tomorrow."

**Wow, long chapter! At least for me ^^ Expect around five more chapters of fun and games before anything gets extremely serious. Also, to avoid confusion, everyone right now is a freshman for the school. Talia is the president because she is the daughter of the principle of this school. She also has many leadership traits. Now, I introduced A LOT of OC's in this chapter so I'll list them off.**

**Chester - Brownish-blonde messy hair, brown eyes, shortest of the group. Very hyper and optimistic.**

**Marlowe -Buzz cut with a blue beanie over it, pale skin, blue eyes. Firm,quiet, and for an unknown reason, troubled. **

**Ben - Very much like Cilan. Has good posture, looks like a gentleman. Has the same haircut as Cilan but with black hair. He is the smartest of the group.**

**Cole - Tallest boy of the group, built. Spiky, short blonde hair, blue eyes. Very angry for an unknown reason, never smiled.**

**Sara - Cole's sister. Surprisingly in high school, skipped two grades because of her intellect. Very small and fragile looking. Extremely shy and timid. Wavy, light brown hair, light skin, innocent looking brown eyes.**

**Talia - Class president, tall, long brown hair and hazel green eyes. Very leader-like.**

**Jennifer - Tallest girl of the group, a little taller than Talia. Brown hair tied into a ponytail, piercing blue eyes.**


	5. Initiation

**Hello! I'm sorry it's been such a long time! For some bizarre reason, every time I tried to log into this website, it just sat there loading, but now it seems to be up and running! Oh yeah, also, I'm allowing the reviewers to send in their OCs to me to star in this story! I will accept up to 5 OCs in this story and two slots are already taken so three reviewers will get to have their OCs in this story, just PM me your OC name, appearance, personality, which character they are closest to, and three of their Pokemon.**

_Fire, screaming, pieces of hot metal clinking against the ground, panicking, sounds of hopeless and despair. He could see kids as young as him grabbing onto their wounds as they fell and never moved again. He saw students huddled in corners of the room while men dressed in black broke through windows and shot in the air, shouting threats to every terrified soul in the area. He felt useless, he couldn't move his body at all for an unknown reason. There was so much havoc going on, he didn't know what was happening. There was only one thing he was certain about, for wanting it all to end._

_"You!" A man dressed in a long black trench coat shouted. The man walked towards him, brandishing his machete, "You'll be the first."_

_All he could see was a quick gleam of the blade and then nothing._

* * *

"Ash," A muffled voice called, "Ash, get up."

Ash slowly opened his eyes and rubbed them. He felt crusty residue flake off from the corner of his eyes. He had cried during the night. He looked at the person who woke him up, it was Gary, already dressed up.

"Jeez, never thought you would ever wake up," Gary said, looking rather annoyed. "Your crying and screaming managed to wake all of us up."

A boy approached Ash. It was Chester. "What happened? Did you have a bad dream?" There was worry in his eyes, a very childish worry that fit Chester's childish face and persona.

Ash didn't respond and looked down at his bed sheets. From what happened in his dream, which was branded into his brain, he didn't want to get up. He grabbed his bed sheets with both hands and gritted his teeth. The image of the man in the black garb, the sounds of people dying, it was all too vivid and fresh in his mind.

Gary, for once, looked worried. "Hey, you don't look alright, did I startle you when I woke you up?"

Ash looked up, his skin pale and his pupils dull. "Um, no, it's not that, it's just that..." Ash looked around the room, all of his roommates stared at him, waiting for an answer. He looked at Chester, who had genuine fear in his eyes. _It'll be better not to tell them what happened in my dream._ Ash thought. "It's nothing guys, just missed home I guess."

Gary's worried look erased and he smirked, "Looks like Ashy-boy is missing his mommy!"

Ash, although agitated by Gary's remark, went along with his lie. "I'll just need to wash my face and change guys."

"No time, sorry." Marlowe said, leaning against a wall.

"What do you mean?" Ash asked.

"Look at the time, the first day initiation is starting in a minute."

Ash studied the clock hung on the wall, it was eight o'clock.

Gary laughed, "Guess you'll have to go in your pajamas."

"What?!" Ash asked, looking at everyone with pleading eyes.

"I'm afraid it's true," Ben said, "We don't want to make a bad first impression by being late do we?"

"But I'll make a bad first impression by looking like this!" Ash whined, pointing at his pajamas and salty eyes.

"Take one for the team man, please!" Chester begged.

Ash sighed and gave in.

"I don't see why you are so disappointed, you always looked this bad," Paul said, arms folded in front of his chest.

"Gee, thanks," Ash grumbled with frustration as he kicked his blanket away. He stretched and stood up from his bed and looked around the room.

"Hey where's Cole and Drew?" He asked, scratching his head.

"He already went with his sister," Marlowe answered.

"And Drew left early," Gary added.

"Enough chit-chat, let's go!" Chester said as he hyper actively ran out the door.

"Jeez, he's probably as hyper as you Ash." Gary mumbled.

* * *

There was a pandemonium of students, eagerly finding seats around the Quad. Ash and the others were searching for a suitable place to sit while trying to look through the ocean of busy kids. Ash stood on his tip toes and even tried jumping to get a better view, but to no avail.

"I wish I was tall," Ash groaned.

"You better be tall if you want to impress Misty," Gary teased.

Ash was about to retort until he saw a flash of orange hair.

"Hey it's Misty!" He shouted as he ran to meet her, squeezing himself through student after student.

"Hey, Misty!" Ash called.

Misty turned around to see Ash.

"Hey Ash!" She said, waving her hand around, "Why are you in pajamas?"

Ash looked down at his clothes, "AHH! Forgot I'm wearing these! It's a long story!"

Misty sweatdropped, "Anyways, I found us all seats, follow me."

She grabbed Ash's hand, which caught him by surprise. He blushed and looked away while she was dragging him to their seats. They were mowing through waves of students, often saying "excuse me" and "sorry."

"Here we are!" Misty said, pointing to a row of empty seats that were right in front of the stage in the center of the Quad. The girls were already seated. Ash and the others quickly took their spots and waited for the announcement to start.

"So how's school so far!" Ash shouted to Misty over the loud atmosphere.

"It's fine!" Misty shouted, hoping Ash could hear her over all the students talking, "You?"

"To be honest, not so great!"

Misty looked concerned, "Why?"

"You know Cole?"

"That kid that bumped into you yesterday?"

"Yeah, well, he's my roommate!" Ash said, turning grim.

"Oh, that's too bad!" Misty said, "His sister is our roommate and she is the most sweetest and innocent girl I've seen!"

Their conversation was cut short after the sound of the microphone static buzzed throughout the Quad. Everyone gritted their teeth and covered their ears.

Soon, a man with grey hair and glasses walked up to stage and cleared his throat in front of his mic.

"Testing 1,2,3. Testing 1,2,3." He said, brushing some dust off his brown suit. As soon as he calibrated the mic, he looked at the students of the school and smiled.

"Welcome to Dekorora High School! The home of the famous village in Dekorora! My name is Michael Harrison, but you can call me Principle H." His deep voice bellowed, "This location has been the landmark of one of the most famous battles of Pokemon history, the Battle of Dekorora Hill."

"Here is a history lesson for you kids, the villagers here, just regular people like you and me, gathered up weapons and rallied each other to defend their homeland from the enemy invaders. Pretty inspirational, yes? To think that regular people, without even proper weapons, held up a good fight against the armed forces of Orre and eventually even won too! If our ancestors did this to help us, we should return the favor by helping raise you bright children into potential men and women! Who knows, maybe you will be heroes too!"

The children looked on with interest, some leaning against their chair, uninterested.

"I will now turn you over to Miss Talia Jefferson," Principle Harrison said, walking away from the mic.

Talia took the stage and looked at every student row by row.

"Thank you for the speech, Principle Harrison!" Talia commented, "Now, to the basics. As you all know, everyone will have the same classes and periods, so all you and your buddies should be thankful that you guys have the same classes. There will be six periods, and they will be in this order: Emergency Survival, English, History, Science, Pokemon Battle Training, and math."

There were confused murmurs throughout the crowd after the class about survival training was announced.

"The teachers will get to that later," Talia said, "There will be two additional optional periods at the end of school for extra curricular activities. These will be: Contest training, Advanced Pokemon Battle Training, Advance Contest training, Pokemon obedience class, Pokemon breeding class, medicine and technology, and advanced Emergency Survival. Any questions?"

A student in the back of the audience raised his hand.

"You, with the blue and white striped shirt." Talia pointed.

"How will the classrooms fit all five hundred students?" He asked.

"Well, this isn't any ordinary high school, it is really a village enclosed by walls and modified to be more convenient for high school. This means that the huge buildings around you are actually classrooms."

The students looked around and awed in amazement.

"Any other questions?"

No one raised their hands.

"Alright, spectacular!" She said, "Then I will now present you to Principle Harrison."

The principle took the mic again and cleared his throat once more, which could be assumed as a bad habit, "We now present you with the previous staff of the year. Give your hands up for our beloved janitors, Jesse and James!"

The stage darkened and a limelight was aimed at the center of the stage as smoke was slowly appearing.

Everyone was confused and whispered to each other, asking questions until three figures in blue janitor's clothes appeared out of nowhere in front of the limelight.

"Prepare for scrubbing."

"And make it spotless."

"To protect this school from contamination."

"And clean dirty places to prevent infection."

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"The janitors, working at the speed of light!"

"Don't litter and help us keep up the fight!"

"Meowth! That's right!"

The students laughed and applauded for the cheesy, but fun show while Ash and his friends were speechless and shocked. Misty was the first to stand up from the crowd.

"Wait! They're criminals from Team Rocket!" She exclaimed pointing at the trio.

Ash stood up too, next to Misty, "Yeah, they've been chasing after us for years trying to steal Pikachu!"

"Pika!" Pikachu asserted.

"Hey look, it's da twerp an' twerpet!" Meowth says, pointing at Ash and Misty, "an' their twerpy friends too!"

"If you haven't noticed, Twerp, Team Rocket was disbanded a year ago, so we are no longer criminals." Jesse said.

"We've even paid our debts by scrubbing this school clean!" James added.

Jesse squinted at Ash, "Hey kid, why are you wearing pajamas?"

Ash looked at his clothes and tipped his hat over his eyes, too embarrassed to show himself.

Jesse, James, and Meowth laughed at Ash while the other kids were laughing too.

Ash gritted his teeth as he and Misty stood down, "I don't trust them."

"Same," Misty responded.

* * *

First Period: Emergency Survival Class

"Tell me again why we are taking this class?" Dawn complained.

"Didn't you hear about the upcoming war?" A figure behind the group said.

They all turned back to see Brock.

"Brock!" The group except for Paul said with a smile.

"Yep its me!" Brock returned the smile, "I'm working as an intern for the school."

"So what about the war?" Paul asked, obviously curious about that topic instead of Brock's appearance.

"Nice to see you too, Paul," Brock said sarcastically, "Well, there are really big rumors talking about the possibility of a war with the League and a large group of elite mercenary criminals. They call themselves the GIC. I'm surprised you guys never heard about this."

"Actually, come to think about it, I've actually heard of this before," Drew said, cupping his chin with index finger and thumb. May gave Drew a playful punch.

"You're so smart!" She said dreamily.

Drew's eyes widened. "W-What?!"

May quickly covered her mouth, "N-NOTHING! AGH!" May said, running out the classroom.

The kids sweatdropped and sighed.

"I'll go check on May," Dawn groaned.

The emergency survival class was about how to disarm a gun and the technique of fighting and how to survive on the outdoors with limited supplies.

"Can't see why this will help," Ash said in a boring voice.

"Just listen, is it that hard?" Misty asked with an exasperated face.

"Yeah, it is really hard!" Ash pouted. He looked around the classroom, bored out of his mind, and noticed that Gary was behind Leaf.

_Perfect chance,_ Ash thought, evilly chuckling to himself. He scribbled something on a piece of paper, folded it, and handed it to Gary, who was in front of him.

"Pst. Gary? Pass this to Leaf." Ash said.

Confused, but too tired to care, Gary lazily handed the note the Leaf.

Leaf curiously opened the paper and screamed, "WHAAAAATTT?!"

Gary, woken up by the outburst, snatched the piece of paper from her.

_I like u_

_-Gary_

"GAH! NO THIS ISN'T FROM ME! ASH WROTE THIS!" Gary shouted.

Ash laughed out loud, "W-What are you talking about?" He said, wiping away tears of laughter.

"You three!" The teacher shouted, "Out now!"

**Well, how was this comeback chapter? Let me know in the reviews! :) There were A LOT of grammar mistakes but I typed this whole thing up on my phone in my bed in the middle of night so that deserves a bit credit? No? I'm using excuses? Sorry :(**

**It's longer than the others but starting from now, the chapters will get longer and longer. Hoped you liked this chapter, it took me a long time to write because I wrote this on my PHONE.**

**Oh yeah, also, go on Youtube RIGHT NOW and search up "Pokemon Decolora Adventures Ending Theme." It shows ALL of the old characters in a circle. Ash, Misty, May, Drew, Dawn, Paul, Brock, Gary, EVERYONE important is in that video, I got such a great feeling when I watched that video. And to make it better, the creators of Pokemon showed that they didn't forget anyone! Since Ash is in Kanto, I hope he gets to see Misty again in the Decolora Season. :)**


	6. The Alarm

**Sorry for the long wait! I promise that I will updated two more chapters this weekend as an apology for keeping you guys waiting! This chapter is pretty short but bear with me, the next chapters will be more interesting because I am going to introduce some reviewer OC's!**

For Ash's friends, the first month of high school has been a month of teasing each other, the guys getting kicked out of classes for noisy outbursts, and hard studying for the girls. Cole transferred to a different dorm for obvious reasons, which was good news. High school was seemingly normal for everyone. At least for now.

* * *

Girls Dormitory

10:10 PM

Misty, May, Dawn, Leaf, Talia, Jennifer, and Sara were all sitting in a messy circle wearing pajamas, ponytails down, hats off, and trying to start up a conversation. Misty eyed Leaf, who was apparently looking at the ceiling, daydreaming. Suddenly, Leaf cracked a small smile and sighed dreamily. Misty thought this was the perfect opportunity to take advantage of Leaf's vulnerability.

"So...Leaf, Gary huh?" Misty asked with a teasing smile.

Leaf's pupils dilated and she suddenly jerked her head to face Misty. She immediately had beads of sweat forming on her forehead.

"W-wha?" Leaf asked, blushing, shifting her eyes from left to right.

"Do you like him?" May asked with determined eyes.

Leaf blushed even harder, grabbing onto a pillow between her legs, "N-no! Of course not!"

The girls, except Sara, who felt sad for Leaf, and Talia, who seemed uninterested in the conversation, started laughing accusingly.

Dawn, who was the first to calm down from the laughing, pointed at May.

"Wait but May, don't you have a crush on Drew?" Dawn asked, "I mean, you even called him smart in an admirable way."

May dropped her shoulders and hunched down, looking at her feet, "W-what do you mean?" She was trying to think of a way to get out of this predicament until an idea formed in her head. To quickly change the topic, May stared at Misty, "The better question is, is Misty in love with Ash?"

The girls ooo'd at the statement, as if they were an audience in a rap battle.

"Um, of course not!" Misty shouted, closing her eyes and frowning.

"But you've been, like, travelling with him for years though!" Dawn exclaimed with big blue eyes.

Misty groaned exasperated and dug her face into her pillow, "Next question!"

"Alright," Leaf said, stretching and putting herself into a more comfortable pose, "When did you start liking him?"

"I SAID NEXT QUESTION!" Misty shouted through the pillow, her voice muffled.

"That was the next question," May teased.

Sensing that they had teased Misty too much, Dawn decided the subject. Misty was silently thanking God for the end of the barrage of questions.

"What about you, Jennifer?" Dawn questioned.

"Hm?" Jennifer asked, her eyes half closed.

"That Chester, huh?" Dawn said, "I saw you looking at him. You even laughed at every joke he said! You definitely have something going on with him, huh?"

"N-no! I only laugh at his jokes because they are funny!" She glanced around the room and sensed that no one believed her, because even in her own opinion, some of Chester's jokes are really stale. She gave in an sighed.

"A-actually," Jennifer said as she cleared her throat, "I sort of do like him, but it's impossible." Her eyes were closed and her eyebrows had a sad look to it.

"What do you mean?" Misty asked, removing her pillow from her face.

"He's just too, ugh, dense," Jennifer said in a displeased voice, "I gave him so many hints but he never seems to figure out that I like him."

Misty looked thoughtful for a second, "I feel your pain."

"SEE?" May shouted with a wide smile, "You DO like Ash!"

Misty quickly covered her mouth, "No! I, uh, see, um... It's someone else!" Misty shouted, throwing her pillow at May.

Of course no one believed her, but they let it slide. For now.

"Well, if you girls are done with gossip," Talia said, looking uninterested, "did you hear about Cole's possibility of being expelled?"

"Oh...oh dear..." Sara whispered, finally speaking for the first time. Her voice was like a mouse compared to Talia.

Everyone had a down look to them as they sympathized for Sara. No one, especially someone like her, should carry the burden of having a brother like Cole. Somehow, they wished that they could absorb Sara's pain for her. After a moment of thought, Leaf decided to change the matter.

"Well, Talia, do you like Marlowe?"

* * *

Girl's Dormitory

2:02 AM

The silent chirps of bug Pokemon and small streams of water dripping down on ponds occupied the whole school. A Chespin was sitting on a tree next to Treecko, blowing into a leaf, making a soft, pleasant melody that fit the nighttime scenery. It all changed after an explosive ring of a bone-chilling alarm burst so suddenly from the Quad. In an instant, there were sounds of students screaming and panicking, quickly unlocking their doors and running frantically to the underground panic room of the school. According to the Emergency Survival Class, or the ESC, all students must seek refuge in the panic room underground the school, though none of the students ever had the opportunity to practice the drill yet.

It took around twenty or so minutes to fill the panic room with five hundred students, and it looked like a complete mess. There was a frenzy of talking and discussion and some of the students hugged each other tightly while a few of the others were in the corners of the room, knees up to their face, crying. Suddenly, Principle Harrison hoisted himself up on a table and stood up. He had a very grim and disappointed look etched across his face.

"I am very... very disappointed in you students," he sighed, "For Pete's sake this was just a drill and I have kids running each over to get into the room and I even have some kids crying! If this was a real emergency, Arceus forbid, you would ALL be dead!"

The room suddenly became creepily silent, quiet enough to hear a small pin drop.

Principle Harrison looked around the room and exhaled, "Yes, I said it, this was just a drill, but kids, we really have to learn to react more efficiently."

Noticing that no one was talking, Principle Harrison sighed and decided to dismiss everyone back to their dorms.

Groans and moans filled the room and the students slowly started walking back to their dorms, trying to catch up on their interrupted sleep.

"That was a little harsh," Misty said, yawning.

Dawn was wiping her tears from her puffy, red eyes. She was one of the girls who cried in the corner. "I, hic, thought we were, hic, going to die..." Dawn was still hicupping from crying.

"Suck it up, Dawn," Talia said, "Principle Harrison is probably right, if this was an invasion, we would all probably be dead judging by the way we acted."

"Why do we even have to do these drills? Isn't the Dekoroa Islands far away from the main regions?" Misty implied.

"True, but the league has established a new headquarter here in the Dekoroa Islands. This school is built on a hill overlooking the headquarter, its a huge vantage point for the GIC, Giovanni's Inner Circle."

"Then shouldn't we have the military here?" Misty asked.

"Well, before this school was established, there was a vote for the parents that ended in the decision to not bring the military, they said it will make the students feel less safe with all the guns around and such."

This made the girls' hearts sink. Were they completely unprotected from any imminent attack?

**Sorry for the short chapter! And I'm also VERY sorry for the short A/N, I'm writing this in the middle of something important just thought that I had to update this story by this week. Also, for the next few chapters, they will be short because of some continuity and informational reasons, so they will only be 1,500-ish words but bear with me, they aren't filler. Anyways, hope you enjoyed!**


	7. Sparring Practice

**Hey! Second update for the weekend! Sorry yet again for the short chapter but hey, two chapters in one week is good enough, right?**

It was lunch the next day but it was different from any other lunch. Usually, there would be kids laughing and talking while the funny ones were pranking and teasing but today, not a single living soul in the Dekorora High School were in a light mood. The atmosphere of the Quad was dark, with students sitting in benches, backs hunched and staring at the ground. There were talks about a possible attack and there were also conspiracies that the children made up. Ash and his friends were in the middle of the Quad, all of them solemn. Brock was with them, wanting to join in on their conversation.

"So... we have no defenses?" Ash asked to no one in particular.

"It seems so, all we have here are brooms and kitchen utensils to use as weapons but that's it," Misty replied, resting her chin on her palm.

The conversation just ended there, no one really wanted to talk, except for Chester, who had a whole bag of questions.

"Wait, who are the GIC and why doesn't the military come to this school to help us?" Chester asked.

No one wanted to respond, but after a while, Brock answered, "The GIC is an acronym for Giovanni's Inner Circle, it's his new group after he disbanded Team Rocket. The thing is, though, the GIC is a 'terrorist' organization while Team Rocket on the other hand was a criminal organization."

Before Brock could continue, Chester interrupted, "Wait what's the difference between a terrorist and a criminal?"

A sigh came from Jennifer, who was disappointed by Chester's ignorance.

"A criminal is someone who commits a crime by breaking the law, a terrorist, on the other hand, is someone who uses terrorism in the pursuit of political aims." Jennifer answered.

"Right, so anyways, the reason why the military isn't coming is because the parents of the students in this school signed a petition to not bring armed personnel into this school unless it is an emergency." Brock continued.

Dawn bursted out, "But this IS an emergency! Didn't you see the drill yesterday?!"

Paul groaned and glared at Dawn, "Dawn, it ISN'T an emergency if there is a drill. Do you HONESTLY expect a platoon of firefighters to come rushing in a school during a fire drill?"

Dawn quieted down, humiliated by Paul's remark.

May stood up, "You have NO right to talk to Dawn like that, you freak!" May shouted, "She's scared, can't you understand, or is that cynical freaking head of yours blocking out all forms of human emotions?"

Paul stood up, towering over May, "Who gave you the right to talk?" Paul said in a deep, threatening tone, his eyes were locked onto May's.

May wanted to back down but she couldn't, not in front of all her friends.

"You're a jerk!" May shouted.

Paul, without breaking eye contact with May, lifted his hand, about to slap her.

Drew saw this and immediately jumped in between May and Paul.

"Don't you DARE slap he-" Drew was cut off when he felt the stinging blow of Paul's palm crackling against his cheek.

Drew slowly touched his cheek, as if not wanting to believe that Paul hit him "Son of a b-"

"I don't have time for a weakling like you," Paul said, and he turned and walked away.

After a moment of silence, May hugged Drew from behind.

"Drew! Are you okay?" She asked, feeling helpless.

"Yeah," Drew replied, rubbing his cheek. Ironically, May and Drew were the only ones who didn't notice that they were embracing each other while Ash and the others knew.

"Jeez, what's his problem," Misty said to Ash, "I thought you said he changed."

"I thought so too..." Ash replied, a hint of sadness in his eyes.

* * *

Emergency Survival Class

Five hundred students were in a huge gymnasium and the five instructors were in front of them, giving them a lesson on hand to hand combat. Ash was dozing off while the others were intently listening, especially Drew, who eyed Paul at the other side of the room.

"Today, we need to evaluated your strengths and skills," The instructor in the middle stated, he was middle aged with gray hair but he was still in fit condition. The only thing that didn't look middle aged about him were his bright blue eyes, "We will divide you into ten different groups, the first group will have the privilege of being inside the gymnasium while the other four groups will be outside."

Ash and all his friends, with a few other students were the group to stay inside the gym. Chester pumped his fist up and jumped with joy when he saw that they were inside AND that they had a small class, only twenty students, while the other groups had fifty students.

The instructor blew his whistle and told to class to get in two lines, one line for the girls and one for the boys, the shortest in front and tallest in the back. After everyone got to their places, the instructor checked his clipboard and then called of names for attendance.

"Alright, now that we are in order, today we will be testing your strengths and skills. Through fighting."

The students murmured to each other and Ash was the first to raise his hand.

"You mean a Pokemon battle?"

"No, this isn't elementary school, it will be hand to hand combat." The instructor answered.

A few of the girls gasped and looked at each other.

"Now that I have your attention, I will read off the names of who will fight who, I will read off the boys first," The coach said, "Ash Ketchum vs. Marlowe Hernandez, Gary Oak vs. Ben Arthurs, Chester Hill vs. Jack Willow, Drew Hayden vs. Luke Thornton, and Paul Rebolledo vs. Cole Belmont."

The boys looked at their opponents, Drew was cursing under his breath because he didn't go against Paul. He looked up and saw who he was going against, Luke Thornton. His body looked menacing, about six foot tall with a slim, muscular build, but his face actually looked friendly and sincere. His short brown hair was covered by a baseball cap, which had the Kanto All-Stars team etched onto it. He wore a white cutaway shirt and blue jeans with dark running shoes. Drew gulped and silently prayed to win.

Chester, on the other hand, looked at his opponent with confidence. Jack was as short as Chester, which was more than enough to make Chester happy. Jack looked pretty normal too, not too strong looking and not too weak looking. He had a brown eyes and brown hair and wore a green shirt with a grey vest and blue jeans with hiking boots.

Ash gave Marlowe a thumbs up, Ben begged Gary to go easy, Chester wished Jack luck, Drew hesitantly accepted Luke's friendly handshake, and Paul and Cole stared at each other with evil grins and death glares.

"I'll see you soon," Cole challenged.

"Now I will be reading off the girls," The instructor bellowed, "Misty vs. Talia, May vs. Dawn, and Jennifer vs. Leaf."

"What about Sara," Dawn asked.

"Sara has osteoporosis so she can't do any intense physical activities," the instructor replied.

_One more burden that poor girl has,_ Misty thought. She then sighed at looked at her opponent, _Of course I fight the most skilled one._..

* * *

"Ash and Marlowe will be the first fighters today, get up on the stage boys," the instructor barked.

The two boys stepped onto a large red mat while the rest sat in a circle around them.

"You can do it, Ash!" Misty cheered. The instructor told her to be silent during the match.

Ash smiled back and then stared at Marlowe. Both of them bowed and got into fighting stance.

The instructor was in the middle of them, putting his arm between them.

"Ready? Begin!"

**The matches begin! Let's see who wins and what happens throughout these fights! Who will fight clean, who will fight dirty? We'll see next time!**


	8. Trust Issues and Grudges

**Sorry for not updating for a month! I'm so inconsistent sorry D: Anyways, some important news, I will be rewriting chapters 1 through 7 again because I feel like they should have more detail and depth, I realized that my chapters are too straightforward and too cut-to-the-chase. Anyways, here is chapter 8!**

The whistle blew and immediately Ash and Marlowe went into sparring position. The two were slowly circling around each other, waiting for the latter to make the first move. Marlowe was hopping quickly on the balls of his feet while Ash took firm steps.

"C'mon Marlowe, hit first!" Ash said with a smile.

The instructor gave a stern look at Ash.

"It seems that you are treating this as a game, Ketchum," the instructor scolded, "treat this as a life and death situation or I will immediately disqualify you and give you a failing grade. Am I clear?"

Ash stopped moving and put his hands down to his sides and looked at the instructor, confused. "Wait, but isn't this just practi-"

Just when Ash lowered his defenses, Marlowe slid in with his feet and roundhouse kicked Ash on the left side of his face.

"Ah!" Ash shouted in shock and he stumbled backwards a few steps and fell down, rubbing his now purple cheek. "Marlowe, what was that for?"

Marlowe didn't answer, and he was still ready to hit Ash some more. Ash saw that in Marlowe's eyes, there were no sympathy, just the cold determination of getting respect from the instructor.

"Marlowe, we're friends!" Ash groaned, slowly getting up.

The instructor looked on with a pleased grin. "Oh, he sure isn't right now."

Ash looked at the instructor, then back at Marlowe, who already stepped forward to kick him again. Ash gritted his teeth and braced himself as Marlowe pivoted his left foot to the left and brang his right foot in the air and turned to his hip to kick Ash on the side.

Ash felt the sheer impact of the powerful snap of Marlowe's kick and staggered to the left, clutching at his right side with both hands. Ash groaned and exhaled deeply, breathing slowly to try to alleviate the pain.

As much as she wanted to tell Ash to defend himself, she couldn't because of the instructor's firm warning. _Come on, Ash,_ Misty said to herself, _Don't be so foolish._

Marlowe stopped, "What are you doing? Fight me."

Ash looked up at Marlowe, breathing painfully, "I won't hit a friend."

Marlowe's eyes grew wide but he snapped back to reality quickly. "You're a fool."

Marlowe charged towards Ash and tackled him to the ground. He grabbed Ash by the shirt and started punching his head with his right hand. Ash brought his hands up to his head to protect his face but it didn't work as Marlowe was hook punching him. Marlowe was growling at each punch.

"Defend yourself!" Marlowe snarled as he threw another punch, "stop being stupid!"

Ash didn't feel the punches as sharply anymore, he just heard distant muffles of voices and there was a buzzing ring in his head. He tried his best to stay conscious but reality was slipping away from him. A dull punch after dull punch, he felt his grasp on consciousness was tugging away, until the punching suddenly stopped. His vision dazed, Ash couldn't see what was going on, but he heard the muffled voices of the instructor.

"That's enough, Marlowe, you did a fine job," the instructor said, putting his hand on Marlowe's shoulder. Marlowe thanked him and walked towards the others, receiving looks of disgust, disbelief, and fear.

The instructor grabbed Ash and put his shoulder under Ash's arm.

"You took a beating there kid," the instructor said, "and you didn't fight back. He was right, you are a fool."

The instructor escorted Ash outside of the gymnasium and Ash turned his head ever so slightly to see Misty. He saw her eyes that were full of worry and she was saying something, but he couldn't hear her. Because he didn't want to hear her.

* * *

After Ash was escorted out of the gym, a huge burst of talking commenced.

"Marlowe, you've been too hard on him!" Chester shouted.

"I think he did just fine," Talia replied.

Marlowe was sitting at the corner of the bleachers, staring at his knuckles. They were covered in blood, who's blood he didn't know, and his skin was peeling on the joints.

Misty put her hands on her forehead and looked down at the ground. May, Dawn, and Leaf looked at her in worry.

"It's alright, Misty, he'll be okay," May said, putting her hand on Misty's shoulder.

"It's not that, it's because Ash is so... he's such a fool, I just wished he'd learn to see people as they really are and not just the good in them," Misty answered.

"It's because he believes in a strong friendship, he trusts people too much." Gary said, approaching Misty and squeezing her shoulder to try to comfort her.

* * *

The other remaining fights for the boys continued on. Gary beat Ben by a landfall because Ben was didn't know how to fight. Chester and Jack were evenly matched, but their fight seemed like a catfight of two midgets. Ash came back from the nurse with an ice pack placed on his head just in time to see Drew and Luke fight.

"How's everything go-" Ash tensed up at a sudden headache, "going?"

Misty took Ash's hand off of his ice pack and pressed it against his head for him.

"Gary beat Ben and Chester and Jack tied, you alright Ash?"

"Aside from the headache and my aching body, I'm fine," Ash said with a cheeky smile.

Misty frowned and looked down. She inched closer to Ash and looked at him, "Ash..." Misty sighed, "You have to-"

"The next two will be Drew and Luke!" The instructor announced, reading off of his clipboard, "Step onto the stage."

Drew and Luke both went on the fighting arena and stared at each other. Luke was a head taller than Drew and obviously had a better build too.

"Let's have a clean fight," Luke said, smiling, offering his hand to Drew.

Drew denied to handshake and looked away, at the audience, to stare at Paul.

"I will fight you someday," Drew whispered to himself and took a deep breath and looked back at Luke.

"Ready? Begin!" The instructor shouted, thrusting his hand to the ground as if he was swinging a flag downwards. Drew and Luke both went into fighting position, but instead of waiting for the other the strike, Drew turned around and faced Paul.

He pointed at Paul at shouted, "This is what I'll do to you!" He ran towards Luke suddenly and threw a punch at Luke' face. Luke let the punch hit him and Drew threw his knee up to try to hit between Luke's legs.

Luke leapt back just in time to dodge the attack and looked at Drew with disapproval.

"C'mon Drew... why are you fighting dirty?" He said, frowning.

Drew growled and charged towards Luke but it was too predictable. Luke punch Drew in the stomach and knocked the air out of him. With the momentum of Drew running towards Luke and the punch stopping him, it really damaged Drew because he crumpled down to the floor, wheezing. Drew breathed in and out very unnaturally and red specks of blood started flying out of his mouth. Luke offered a hand to help Drew but Drew closed his eyes and started screaming out of pain.

"Pathetic," Paul said, looking uninterested and bored.

Drew heard Paul and viciously glared at him, growling. He rolled to his side and rose up too quickly and started running for Paul. After a few steps, Drew fell forward, not being able to stand up. Two adults went and picked Drew up while Drew was shouting at the top of his lungs.

"P-PAUL! PAAAULLLLL!" Drew shouted as he was being taken outside the gym.

May looked in horror as her childhood love suddenly turned into a vicious animal. She couldn't help it anymore and ran off to the bathroom, putting her hand over her mouth and crying. Misty and Dawn noticed this and followed her as the rest looked on with shock.

"Disrespect and utter stupidness," the instructor said, shaking his head, "if I see ANY of you acting like that, you will be kicked out of my class." He turned around and patted Luke on the back, "Good job on being a good sport kid."

Luke thanked the instructor and sat back down at his seat.

"Now, for the grand finale of the boys, Paul vs. Cole!" The instructor bellowed, "this will be interesting" he said to himself.

**Alright, good news and bad news, bad news first? Alright. Bad news is is that this chapter was short. *Sarcastic gasp* What a shock, isn't it? Anyways, good news! School is almost over! Just 4 more days! You know what this means? Going places with friends and not updating the story! Nah, just kidding, as much as I want to get a break from writing and start playing around, I can't leave you guys behind. Also, I sorta already had an unexpected break one month ago because of all the motivation I lost. BUT, the motivation is back because it's summer and I don't have school or any projects to do! This means I will update a lot. I just wish these handful of certain fanfics that I love so much updates a lot too. That would be great, swell, nice, good, etc.**


	9. Freshman Years (Arc 1 Complete)

**ALRIGHT! THIS CHAPTER HEREBY MARKS THE END OF THE SHORT, FILLER-ISH CHAPTERS! Now we will move on to more detailed and longer chapters that will, at the same time, be easier to read. Also, I will be uploading on a weekly basis now because it's summer, just putting that to the side there. Yeah.**

"Paul and Cole, step up onto the stage, you guys will be the last ones for the boys today," The instructor said, putting his clipboard to the ground, "I'll actually look forward to this match," he said, arms folded.

Paul stared at Cole, who was on the other side of the bleachers, and Cole did the same. They both stood up at the same time and were stepping down to the sparring mats. As Paul was descending, a hand grabbed his wrist. He looked back to see that it was Dawn.

"Paul, don't go to hard, remember it isn't real," she pleaded quietly. Paul only stared, which made her grip him tighter. "Please."

"Troublesome," Paul muttered as he shook his wrist off of her grasp and stepped down.

Paul and Cole were on the mats, facing each other and waiting for the instructor to begin the match. The instructor looked at both of them and smiled, "I heard you guys at a little fight on the first day of school, in your dormitory. I also heard it got a _little_ violent."

Cole tightened his fist so tightly that the grinding sound of his callous, rough skin was audible. His eye contact with Paul didn't falter and he was patiently waiting for the instructor to finish talking.

"... You know, this fight would really end the grudge between you two. It might even spark a friendshi-" The instructor suddenly laughed at what he just said, "Ha! What am I talking about! You guys are animals." He went closer to both Paul and Cole, so close that they could feel his breath. "Animals." He whispered.

Now Paul was even tightening his fist, growing more and more impatient by the second. The instructor noticed this and patronizingly smiled.

"Oh, you two _big boys_ want to start the match? I'm didn't even start going over the rules yet."

Cole sighed and turned to face the instructor, he made full eye contact. "The rules are: No elbows, knees, and soccer kicks," he listed impatiently.

The instructor snickered, as if to make fun of the two, "You forgot one rule. No breaking glass cups on someone's head."

Cole's eyes widened as he remembered what Paul did to him on the first day. He clenched his teeth and closed his eyes, frowning. There were stress wrinkles on his forehead and veins were sticking out of his arms.

"Can... we... just... start..." He deeply growled from inside his throat.

"Why, can't we just talk more? I really like this conversatio-"

"Enough," Paul said, already stepping out of the match and back up to the bleachers, where the others were, "I know what you're trying to do and it won't work. You try to make us both extremely impatient and aggressive by insulting us and delaying the match so that when we finally fight, we will fight like animals. I'm not buying into your little plan that you made for your own enjoyment. I forfeit, Cole wins, I don't care."

The instructor stood dumbstruck as he stood silently still, trying to process what just happened.

"You... you get back here Paul, or I'll drop you out of the class!" The instructor said, unsure if his threat was strong enough. He looked at Cole, "Well, what are you going to do? Stand there? Fight him!"

Cole grunted and walked away, outside of the gym.

"Cole!" Sara cried out as she struggled to catch up with him.

All of the students in the gym stared at the instructor and one by one, then all got out of their seats and headed out of the gym, some scoffing and muttering. The instructor was standing alone in the middle of the gym, too confused to know anything.

* * *

The next day, word broke out of the incident from yesterday and the instructor was fired promptly and ESC (Emergency Survival Class) was postponed.

Ash and his friends were sitting on benches at the quad, all their Pokemon playing and chasing each other.

"Phew!" Dawn sighed, "Thank gosh I didn't have to fight!" She pretended to act relieved by wiping imaginary sweat off of her forehead.

"It would have been interesting if the girls sparred though, I wanted to see who would be the strongest," Ben said creepily.

The girls looked at him strangely.

"What?" He asked.

Jack, whose only friend in the group was Ben, ushered him away, apologizing to the others.

"Ben, now is not the time to be creepy!" Jack whispered, dragging Ben away from the others.

The group had a laugh and went into their own little talks with each other.

"Even though the instructor was a jerk, they shouldn't have shut down the survival class," Misty brought up.

"Why? Do you want to actually fight, Misty?" Dawn asked.

"Actually, Misty does have a point," Talia added, "No matter how guarded this school may seem, there is this _one_ weak spot at the back of the school. Only the staff knows where the weak spot is." That statement made the girls' hearts sink.

"Wait, what do you mean there is a weak spot?" May asked, nervously playing with her gloves.

Talia cleared her throat, "Well, at the back wall of the school, at the left corner, is an emergency trap door to get out of the school. It can get people out of the school, but also get people in. The trap door leads to an underground tunnel that leads to the center of the school. So if there was an emergency, we can get out of the school through that tunnel, but in an invasion, if the enemy knows where the trap door is, they can do into the school as well."

There were so many questions to be asked after that.

"Wait, can't they rig the tunnels so that we can close it off if someone invades?"

"Why would they even have that when the front gates are so big?"

"Do you think an invasion will happen anytime soon?"

"How do you know all this?"

Talia was overwhelmed with questions but kept her cool and told them that all their questions will be answered sometime later.

"Anyways," she said, "let's see what the boys are saying."

The girls joined in on the guys' conversation. The two new additions to their group of friends, Jack Willow and Luke Thornton, were already friendly with everyone in the group, though sometimes Jack depended on Ben for the sake of not being awkward.

Misty looked at her friends and sighed with appreciation. She saw Chester acting as dense as Ash when Jennifer tried to talk to him, she saw Drew and May looking at flowers, Dawn nagging at Paul, who didn't argue back for once, Ben and Jack laughing and joking around, Gary and Leaf walking around the quad, shoulders touching, Marlowe and Talia discussing something, and Sara smiling at the others. Sara was probably enjoying everyone's happiness like she was. Ash nudged Misty on the shoulder.

"What are you thinking about, Misty?" Ash asked with a smile.

Misty closed her eyes and breathed in happily, "Just about how happy all of us are."

END OF ARC 1: The Freshman Arc

**Now wasn't that a heart warming ending to the chapter? Like I said, this will be the last filler chapters and starting from now, the other chapters will be more important and exciting. This chapter will mark the end of their freshman year in high school and the next chapter will fast forward them to their senior years. I'll update every week and please review! **


	10. Four Years On (Arc 2 Start - War Arc)

**(Writer's block. Period. Sorry for the late update but since I'm uploading longer chapters, I'll need more time. Anyways, writer's block. I really couldn't find a way to smoothly summarize three whole school years in this fanfic because this chapter is a transition chapter from Freshman year to Senior year. I'm testing out an idea I had to try to transition from Freshman to Senior smoothly so let's hope my idea actually works.)**

**- IGNORE ALL THAT UNNECESSARY SHIZ! THANK YOU SO MUCH MMTHUNDER31! HE HELPED ME WRITE 95% OF THIS CHAPTER WITH 110% OF HIS EFFORT! HE IS AMAZING AND HE IS THE MOST HELPFUL PERSON I'VE SEEN ON THIS WEBSITE! Thank you MMThunder31, thank you so, so much! :)**

_September 7, 2017_

_Dew,_

_Senior year is starting this week, and... I don't... don't really know what to write. I mean, writer's block, right? Anyways, since I need to fill in an entry, I'll recap on everything that happened, hope you can bear with me (Imagine me twisting my fingers)._

_Freshman year was really what it always was like in the beginning. Ash and Gary are going along well, as always (Sarcasm). Also May and Drew are really close, not that they already aren't, but I mean closer than usual. No, even more than that, closer than __**usual **__usual. Bear with me (Already said that) as I skim through the details. Ever since Freshman year Valentines Day, Drew didn't give May only a rose like he always does, but several. He writes her letters now, poems, sonnets, you name it. He's also physically getting closer to her. They walk while holding hands so often that it's involuntary now. It's really sweet but, ah, I don't know, it feels... awkward. They didn't even confess their feelings to each other but they are already treating each other as though they are in a relationship. We always asked May if she likes Drew, (Which she definitely does) but it's always the same drill. She'll blush, twirl her hair around nervously with her finger, look away, and deny it. Not to mention how much Drew gets teased by the other guys, especially Gary. It seems like Gary laid off on Ash and found a new target. Better for him and also for me, I guess. (If you know what I mean...)_

_Speaking of Gary, him and Leaf are already planning on Senior year's prom. His notorious ego definitely helped him ask out Leaf a month before prom. We all brought, well, forced Leaf to come with us to the fashion outlet to pick out her prom dress. After a few mixed opinions, we finally picked out a dress that fit her personality and style the most. Like her original outfit, the dress was the color of a very light blue, almost white, with delicate small red outlines on the bottom of the dress. She was very hesitant on taking her hat off while wearing the dress, but we eventually persuaded her too. It's very nice, you know, having all your close friends taking the next step, just in time, too. I just hope that that raven haired idiot will realize that he'll need to ask someone out for prom soon. (Sigh)_

_The only couple that I "ship" that aren't doing well are Paul and Dawn. All of us ship them together but Paul really seems annoyed of Dawn. Not that he wasn't before, but it's like all his patience for her hyper and loud attitude dried up because he talks a lot more now, but in a bad way. Literally every time Dawn speaks over two sentences, Paul tells her to, well, in a straightforward way, he tells her to shut up. They really distanced away from each other and strangely, Dawn, of all people, seem okay with it! She still wears her relatively happy face and has her peppy attitude. Paul, on the other hand, seems more affected. __**Paul **__is more affected than __**Dawn. **__The reason why I think this is because without Dawn, no one really talks to Paul anymore, not even Ash. He hasn't talked to anyone for three days ever since their "breakup" and I think the loneliness and solitude is getting to him. From all of the previous entries I wrote, you know all my friends, and you know that Paul is a proud person. Now, imagine with me. Imagine the proudest, most egotistical person you know (Not Gary), and imagine him being the third wheel of... well... a group of his only friends! That really affected him, so he started acting out of character, acting all different. It's obvious that he's trying to find someone to talk too. And also, of all people, Paul, the "Great and Silent Trainer", chooses to talk to me, "The Tomboyish Mermaid..."_

_Let's see, where to start, where to start... Oh! I know! After his little predicament with Dawn, he came to complain to me. He excuse was that since I was the oldest and most "logical" one of the group, which I really think should be Leaf, he confided all of his kept in thoughts to me. It took a while at first, him confiding in me. At first, he gave me some extremely vague information about himself, bit by bit. Then, afterwards, he began to grow comfortable around me and became more open and friendly. His trademark grin slowly disappeared whenever he was around me but when around others, his sour grin comes back. His conversations were actually pretty interesting and I saw a new shade of Paul. His poisonous and dark shade of purple slowly changed to a light shade of lavender after my so-called talking sessions with him. He told me about his past life, his relationship with his brother, and his regrets. He sincerely regretted treating his brother so badly because he realized that all his brother wanted to do for him was to make him be the best that he can be; something that his father couldn't help him to do. I really feel like Paul is a great person on the inside, it's just that he needs to show his inner self more than his bitter outside. It's something he really couldn't help because of his bipolar-like attitude. He really reminds me of a character in one of my sisters' plays, "The Silver Lining Playdéx," (Also include an A/N on the reference to the Silver Lining Playbook) I've really grown to like Paul and I hope the others will accept him too. If Dawn doesn't forgive Paul by the time prom comes, and if Ash is still too hopeless to ask me to go with him, then maybe I'll choose Paul, because he needs someone to support him. (Scribble) Wait, no! I can't think that, what am I becoming? I know that Ash Ketchum is the person that I need to support, not Paul. (Sigh) I'm really becoming like Brock. Already two guys to choose from, who next, Drew?_

_Anyways, enough of relationships, it's just high school. Speaking of which, surprisingly, EVERYONE is doing fine in school! In terms of grades, everyone, even Ash and Dawn, are getting near perfect GPA's and even are in a lot of AP classes! It's incredible knowing that the most unexpected people are so smart. You know, just to fill in the rest of this page of this notebook, I'll give you a list from highest to... to lowest in our little group._

_1. Talia_

_2. Gary (Gasp)_

_3. Ben_

_4. Leaf and I are pretty much tied_

_5. Marlowe_

_6. Ash (Gasp)_

_7. Hunter_

_8. Jack_

_9. Paul_

_10. Drew_

_11. May_

_12. Sara_

_13. Jennifer_

_14. Dawn_

_15. Chester_

_Now just because some people are at the bottom, it doesn't necessarily mean that they are not smart. Everyone in our group including Chester, are very gifted students; everyone in this high school is, that's why we've been selected to come here. The students of Dekoroa high could be roughly twice as gifted than students other high schools._

_As far as sports go for the guys, Gary and Ash play soccer, Paul and Ben play golf, Hunter and Marlowe play football, Chester and Jack play baseball, and Drew plays tennis._

_For the girls, well, we all play volleyball. Leaf tends to play golf also. Sadly, Sara doesn't play any sports because of her illness._

_You know, I'm just listing things now, what else is there to talk about... Oh yeah! About Paul's past_

"MISTY!" A feminine voice called out.

Misty placed her pen on the notebook she was writing on and closed her notebook. She looked at the clock: **5:30 PM**

"Oh my gosh, volleyball!" Misty shouted to herself. She grabbed her gym bag that was resting next to her chair and sped to the bathroom to change.

**8:00 PM**

Practice was over so Misty, May, Dawn, and Leaf all headed to the cafe for pastries and coffee. Talia, Jennifer, and Sara decided to separate from the group and go to the salad bar for dinner.

"So Leaf, care to share the theme for prom?" May asked.

"Sorry, Gary and I along with Ben agreed to keep it a secret so it can be a surprise," the hat wearing brunette responded deviously.

"Well that's not fair; we help you find a dress and you won't even give us a hint, some friend you are," May huffed while pouting.

"After you forced me to go shopping and made me take my hat off to try out a dress."

"Come on Leaf, you've got to admit that dress makes you look stunning and even Gary might be speechless seeing you in that dress," Misty added.

"Gary will be speechless?" Leaf asked in astonishment.

"Yeah, you're right Leaf, knowing him he'll have to say something witty to save his pride from being torn apart from your sexiness," the redhead responded truthfully, but spoke to fluster the said brunette.

"Misty!" A deep red hue covered Leaf's face. May and Dawn had no trouble laughing at the situation Leaf found herself in. She quickly thought of a way to get relief and also exact some revenge even through the distractions.

"So May, speaking of prom, when are you and Drew going to finally get together?" _Cue the denial_ Leaf thought smugly.

"M-me and Drew, what are you even talking about!?" May sputtered as her tone suddenly got several octaves higher.

"May, I saw you and him at the park beach the other evening enjoying each other's company," Dawn teased in a knowing manner.

"He needed help with one of his classes and we met there..." The brunette's excuse was lame and all the other girl immediately saw through it.

"Romance isn't a class May, even I know that," the bluenette accidentally showcased her ditziness.

"Well if we're going to talk couples then why isn't Misty's love life included!?" May last ditch effort to gain freedom from this horrible torment brought the redhead back into the picture.

"I suppose; so Misty how is it between you and Ashy-boy" Leaf questioned taking the other brunette's bait.

"Alright." Misty calmly replied.

"You know that's not the answer we want." Leaf spoke egging on the redhead.

"Fine," the redhead groaned. "I wish Ash would pull his head out of the ground and ask me out already. There, happy now?" Surprising everyone at the table with her torrent of released frustration and bluntness of her answer, Misty took a bite of her pastry while the others fought to hide a fit of giggles.

Leaf being the first to recover spoke up. "That's Misty alright."

An eruption of hushed fits of laughter commenced.

"Maybe we'll have to have a get together with the guys and force them to ask us out to prom," She continued.

"Sounds like a plan so let's get planning!" Dawn said in glee.

Meanwhile at the salad bar the trio of Talia, Jennifer, and Sara were chatting about class, graduating soon, and the upcoming prom.

"So Talia who do you have your eyes on for a date for prom?" Jennifer asked before taking a bite of her salad.

"I've got some idea," the brunette replied with a knowing smile.

"Let me guess, is it a certain…" Jennifer started before Sara cut her off. "…Marlowe right?"

Almost shocked, Talia managed to speak "How did you know Sara?"

Sara's big eyes twinkled, "Please, the way you sent those little glances at him; don't think I'm not observant" she paused for a sip of her drink. "It's just like how Jennifer is head over heels for Chester."

"What!? How do you figure that?" Jennifer asked abruptly.

"Because ever since that game where he hit that home-run to win it, you wouldn't stop talking about it. You made it pretty obvious" Sara smartly spoke.

"B-b-but…"

"Please Jen, don't deny. It only makes you worse" Talia jokingly said. Right after Talia finished, her phone buzzed with a text message.

"I wonder who it is?" Sara asked quietly as Talia read the message. "It's from Leaf. It says that they want us to come to a pre-prom picnic and the boys will be there too".

"Oh I wonder why?" Jennifer comically questioned.

"Well at least they found a way to make it easy for us to get our dates" Talia said before taking another bite of her salad.

Meanwhile the guys excluding Cole and Paul headed into town to grab a bit to eat at the local hangout. The rambunctious group was still hyped up from their sports class once they got to town. The Hangout as the business was named is the go to spot for the students to hangout and relax after classes. With a restaurant catering root beer floats, pizza, hamburgers and hotdogs, and their famous wings, it was just the spot to eat and be a teenager. Also the arcade and movie theater nearby always offered entertainment. Though for couples Dekoroa Park supplied a quiet and safe environment nestled right next to the beach to get that lovey-dovey on and a clear view of the sunset in the evenings.

Anyhow though, the group was more interested in hanging out than their romantic interests at the moment. Entering the familiar place the group encountered none other than Chris, the owner of the Hangout.

"Hey Ash, you come back to try to beat your old wing record again seeing as its Wings Wednesday?" Chris greeted.

"Not today Chris, but I sure could use some more of those Island Wings you got" Ash responded enthusiastically.

"Sure thing, just grab your usual table and I'll get some made"

"Thanks Mr. Hanks"

"C'mon Ben, you all have been here four years almost now. I'm Chris, not Mr. Hanks. Makes me feel old when you call me that"

"Sorry Miste-r-r… I mean Chris" Chris responded in merely a small laugh at Ben's response and headed into the back.

"Man Ben, lighten up man. Being a Promzilla is getting to you" Gary jabbed.

"Well, I was raised to be formal and I can't help that want Prom to be perfect"

"Just lighten up Ben before you get your bowtie in knot" Ash spoke jokingly.

"Ash, my bowtie is in a knot already" Ben replied though the joke flew over his head. Many at the table face palmed in exasperation. Good news was though that Chris was bring out some wings for the group. With a chorus of "thanks" and "thank yous" the group began to munch down. After watching Ash nearly inhale a wing Gary's phone buzzed with a text from his prom date.

"Seems like Leaf wants all of us to go to a picnic with the girls" Gary spoke loud enough from everyone in the group to hear.

"I wonder what that's all about" Chester wondered.

"Not sure…" Drew replied, but stopping mid-sentence.

"Drew what's wrong?" Ben asked. Ben's question was answered by Drew glaring at the person who had just entered. Heading up to counter the hat wearing teen got a pizza from Chris before turning to leave.

Ben immediately recognizing one of his teammates on the golf team called out. "Hey Luke"

"Oh hey Ben" Luke responded noticing Drew's glare at the same time.

"Want to join us Luke?" Ben asked.

"Nah, I'm good. Thanks for the offer though, but I got to get going" The group watched Luke exit as Marlowe looked at Drew. "God Drew, could you be any colder?"

"I'm don't like him" Drew claimed.

"Just because he kicked your butt in a train match all those years ago doesn't mean you can act like a girl about it" Marlowe said.

All he got in a reply was a "whatever".

Seeing it was Saturday morning Drew headed into town and planned to visit the park where just days earlier he had a "meeting" with May or a "date" normal people referred to it. Taking a quick detour to get coffee from the Dekoroa's market Drew entered the establishment heading straight for the coffee and maybe to grab an energy bar for breakfast. Before he could reach either though a person appeared from the isle in front of the coffee area; running into each other Drew was greeted with a quick, but familiar "sorry about that". Looking at who he had run into, the coordinator stomach tightened into a knot. That stupid camo hat, cutoff t-shirt and those blue jeans was a style that only one person at Dekoroa High wore: Luke Thornton, that country idiot who embarrassed him in front of his friends, Paul, and May as well. He had never forgiven Thornton for what happened in that training fight; four years later and he still had a grudge.

Drew began to turn around and head back toward the entrance; he didn't need this today, but Luke had other plans. "You know Drew, an acknowledgement wouldn't kill ya"

"What did you say Thornton?" and after brief pause "You know what, forget it." Drew might have been upset, but Luke was finished treating Drew like an adult because in his eyes, he couldn't handle.

"No, I don't so" The coordinator was shocked as he turned to leave to feel a hand roughly turn him back around.

"I don't know what the hell I did to make you so upset, but I'm sick of dealing with your petty grudge. I tried to back off and give you space and let you handle the situation, but here we are so we're going to do this my way. Now stay here for a moment while I get something" Luke's tone was angry and the way he getting right in Drew's face was highly intimidating.

Drew was so shocked by Luke's attitude that he managed to stay. Luke hardly ever got mad and to be on the receiving end was crazy at best. The green haired teen watched as the brunette put down a donut box and get a disposable coffee cup and lid then filling the cup with black coffee and adding sugar and creamer. Taking a stirrer Luke rapidly mixed the liquidly blend before putting on the lid, grabbing the box again and coming back over to Drew.

What was even more shocking to Drew was when Luke offered the coffee with a "Here you go" before heading to the register to pay for his purchases. Staring confused at Luke, Drew started from his stupor by the ding of the register opening while the brunette got his change and walked out the door with "You coming Mr. Molasses". Entering a powerwalk Drew quickly caught up with Luke just outside the store.

"Why are you getting me coffee and how did you know I drank my coffee like this?"

"Because one, you were heading that way and two, I've never run into a city slicker that drank their coffee black"

"That's stereotyping" Drew commented.

"Nope, it's looking at patterns. Why do you think Sawsbuck's Coffee is so popular and why they have those lattés and cappuccinos?"

"Because they actually taste good"

"Exactly, hardly anyone from the city grew up drinking black so they don't like how strong it is"

"Makes sense I guess"

"Here, want a donut"

"What's the catch?"

"No catch, but we are going to sort through our little dilemma"

"So how do you suppose we do that?"

"You'll see" Luke countered with a knowing smirk.

The duo progressed to the outskirts of Dokoroa on the far side on the island away from the school. This confused Drew as they passed the all the places he thought they would have gone and he had only been to this side of the island a few times.

"Okay, I give. Where are we going?"

"You still don't know?"

"No, would you just tell me already" Drew sighed.

"The shooting range"

"Why there?"

"Because I was going shooting this morning and I still plan to. I might teach you a few things"

Normally such egotism would have irritated the coordinator, but coming from Thornton, he knew not to question it. It was rumor around the school that with either a gun or golf club that Luke was a sure shoot inside 250 yards. Sophomore year they had shooting tryouts for the shooting team; at 500 yards he put all five shots inside the target circle with a scoped rifle.

Snapped out of his daze, Drew asked "What did you say?"

"I said have you ever shot a gun before?"

"Not a real one"

"Okay, I'll take you slow then. Don't want you to blow your hand off"

"What!?" Drew uncharacteristically screeched as the brunette entered the building leading to the range property.

"Chill dude. Wouldn't want mess up that hairdo. First you'll fire a gun without bullets, then blanks and if you're good we get to the real deal. Now come on" Drew cautiously followed behind Luke inside to the counter.

"Well Luke, back again for your weekend shooting session?" A man with grey hair and a beard greeted the duo.

"Sure am Mr. Carter" the camo wearing teen replied.

"Who's the newbie here?" The older man asked as he pointed to Drew.

"This is Drew, ran into him and brought with me"

"Drew, Drew, where have you told that name?" Mr. Carter questioned as he scratched his chin.

"Drew was the one who I fought in the training match freshman year"

"Ah, finally got sick enough of him to bring him out here and bury him in the woods 'round here didja?" The green haired teen eyes visibly widened as he looked at the man.

"No, thought I'd patch up our rocky relationship; besides I did that his girlfriend and friends would come after me, too many bodies ya know" A boisterous laugh echoed through the space and the coordinator looked ready to bolt.

"Oh young man, I hope you know we're kidding" Carter spoke as he wiped a tear from the corner eye.

"Heh, yeah, real funny"

"Sorry 'bout that Drew; you see that Carter here can joke about anything these days"

"Well after being in the last war, everything else seems light in comparison. Anyway, you two came to shoot so what do you need?" Carter asked.

"Can you get my rifle with a box of bullets for it and a 9mm for Drew with some blanks in the box?" Luke knowingly answered.

"Sure thing, just a moment" the man said as he disappeared into the back of the building

"You okay?" the brunette seemed truly concerned.

"Been better" come the emotionless reply.

"Hey, we were kidding. It was the wrong time considering, but Carter would never do that. He's that kind of guy who wouldn't hesitate to shoot a bad guy, but a person like you; you couldn't pay him to shoot. Here, have another donut" Wordlessly Drew grabbed a donut from the box as Mr. Carter returned from the back.

"Here you go; the ear muffs and glasses are at the stalls out back" with a quick "thanks" the two teens headed out to the stalls. Still not having spoken much Drew remained quiet.

"So, you ever going to tell me why you been so hateful towards me since that match" Luke calmly questioned as he loaded bullets into the magazine of his Carbine.

"I don't really know" Drew shrugged as he looked down the range.

"Sure you do, but don't you think I deserve to know after all this time? I mean last night Ash invited me to join you all, but I didn't because it would have pissed you off" Luke finished putting bullets in and loaded the clip into his rifle.

"When you put it that way, I was mad at Paul and I guess you were the scapegoat"

"Doesn't seem like the whole truth, but we'll get there" and after a pause "put those safety ear muffs on till I finish firing" After the coordinator put the ear muffs on, Luke aimed his Carbine and fired several shots. After the brunette put the gun on the stall counter Drew took off the muffs.

"So you shoot often?"

"Every Tuesday and Saturday. Though back to you; why have you really been mad?"

With a sigh Drew spoke, "Because I wanted to prove to Paul I was tough and if I could beat you then he would respect me. When you beat me so easily I was mad and embarrassed because all my friends and Paul saw that and it was easier to be mad at you than anything else"

"Aren't you forgetting a special someone in that group?" Luke spoke with a sly smile.

"Who do you mean?" The grass hair teen questioned feigning ignorance.

"A certain bandana wear brunette gal who I've heard that you having "meetings" with"

"Oh that's not what it seems" Drew continued to defy the obvious.

"Oh well, then let's see if you can shoot" Luke gave the 9mm pistol to Drew showing him how to work the gun, the different parts, how to hold it, and finally how to aim correctly. Going through the routine of shooting an unloaded gun and then blanks, the coordinator impressed his new found friend. Finally getting the chance to fire live bullets, a feeling of nervous came over Drew.

"Hey man, it's just like firing the blanks with a little more recoil. Just breathe and pull the trigger" Following the given advice Drew fired and several bullets managed to hit the target.

"Nice first try Drew. You keep practicing and you'll be a good shot soon"

"Thanks Luke, and I want to say sorry about the way things before"

"It's the past, forgive and forget man, but do you mind if I give you a piece of advice"

"Advice about what exactly?" Drew questioned.

"I know you may not know yet about you feel about May, but just listen"

"O-okay"

"If you'd do anything to save someone, if living a day without them there with you hurts like hell, if you had a chance to give them happiness no matter the cost you pay, then…you love them"

After sometime Drew responded, "Where it you hear that from?"

"My Dad, it was one of the last things he said to me during the lunch we had before he left to go on duty with the Vermilion PD".

"What happened?"

"A mom and her kid were carjacked. The mom got forced out and the guy took the car with the kid still inside. Long story short, dad was the lead car in chase and when they pitted him the kid made a break for it and the guy took dead aim with shotgun and my dad got to the kid in time to take the shot himself. The other cops shot the guy, but the round pierced dad's vest on the back side and bounced off the front. Saved the kid, but he died on scene" Luke reminisced while he fought back tears.

"Luke… I'm sorry man," Drew tried to comfort the teen.

"Don't be; it's not your fault, but learn from it because you never know when it's time to go. Make the most of your time"

"Thanks Luke" Luke only replied with a nod. "Do you mind if I make good on that advice?"

"Go head, I'll clean up here."

Drew turned to leave, but this time he remembered something. "Hey Luke, don't be stranger."

**Again, thank you so much MMThunder31, you rock! :D He really wrote all of the deep, heartwarming elements of this chapter and he really went flying and flowing on this chapter. He is also helping me with chapter 11 and is constantly supporting and helping me out. Thank you so much MMThunder.**


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